[zdude]

We have an EZ-Path Romi lathe. It Boots up to a certain point, then stops. It says "Verifying Pool DMI data". Anyone have any clues as to what the problem is? I tried to get to the CMOS settings, but it's asking for a password.

[NC Cams]

Shut off machine.

Open the cabinet, find the remote keyboard plug on the MB and replace it with a regular keyboard.

WHile the machine is rebooting, press the DEL key.

This will get you into the CMOS.

IF it won't, chances are that there is a MB failure.


The BMDC that runs the Bridgeport Romy lathe is run by a pure DOS program. As long as you hit DEL before the autoexec.bat program starts to run, you should be able to get into CMOS on MB without any password. IF you still get a passwor request, you nay have to call ROMY as somevody password protected the thing which is/was not a smart thing to do.

IF that's the case, you might have to remove the onboard battery to "blow" the CMSO setting which should remove any password. YOu'll then have to figure out CMOS setting on your own. I can tell you taht you do NOT want LBA=ON nor do you want to run autodetect for the HDD size.

IF you hit F8 before the autoexec.bat starts, you can check each and every command in autoexec.bat and Y or N as to whether you want it to run.

I'd start looking for a M/B as this could be the first vestages of a M/B going south.

Where to get M/B?. - dumpster dive for cheap 386-486 PCB's. Or call EMI and pay thru the nose for one.

[zdude]

Thanks for the help, but we can't find a backup battery anywhere on the boards. Where is it usually?

[NC Cams]

Just about anyplace on MB.

Depends if it is a Nicad or a Lithium battery. NIcads usually look like a small roll of tums with the end cells soldered into the board. THe Lithiums can either be direct soldered or they are fitted into a plastic carrier. The lithiums are the size/shape of a nickle, quarter or half dollar. They are usually a single cell and, again, could be anywhere.

The MB will have either/or as that's what keeps the CMOS alive when you power down the AC side of the system. BPT used a number of different MB's so you'll have to look around. You might have to pull out the various cards to see/find the battery.

If your board is the OEM board, you're probalby lucky that it just now started to crap out. It is unusual for a desktop type MB to live very long in an industrial environment which it was NOT designed or intended for. Start looking for some spare MB's. Single board pentiums are preferred as they don't use HDD controller cards anymore - don't go over 133mhz as some faster boards won't run right. You can elininate all but the video card and the BMDC. IN fact, you can even buy a DOM (disk on module) which eliminated the HDD which could be on its last legs as well. FDISK any replacement HDD/DOM at 504mb ONLY

These can be bought from EMI for big bucks or on the open market for much less. The only PITA part is formatting the DOM and reloading softwrae. They are much more durable thatn HDD's however, especialy in a machine tool environment.

BTW, which version of the Ezpath to you have? There were 2's, 2S's and 2SD's. Looking for info re the differences tween 2S and 2SD.

[zdude]

Thanks for all the info. We have an SD. I talked with a guy from EMI yesterday. He told me to check the +5 VDC. If it's off, it wouldn't boot up. He said if I'm lucky, I might be able to tweak it in & buy some more time on it, but it's probably on it's way out.

[machintek]

The SD has the CIB ( computer in a box) which uses a half size, all in one, industrial type mother board. These may be using a DALLAS REAL TIME CLOCK chip which has the battery in it. It typically uses either a piggy back flash memory board or a DISK on a CHIP. For both of these the CMOS is set to NONE for the C drive.

George

[machintek]

Someone may have password protected the CMOS. If so you would need to clear the CMOS. There is a jumper for this.

George